Mower.



No. 876,637. PATENTED JAN.14, 1908.

' W. W. & H. H. HABE.

MOWER.

APPLICATION FILED SBPT.14, 1906.

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TTORNEY.

PATENTED JAN.14, 1908.

W. W. I H. H. HARP.

MOWER.

APPLICATION PILPD SEPT. 14, 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

JN VENT ORS W Wvg/m, HY @Maf/L64 WTNESSS: fm DGI ATTORNEY WWU/Ham UNITED STATES PATENT oEEniE. I

WILLIAM W. HARE AND HENRY H. HARE, OF NO BLESVILLE, INDIANA, ASSIGNORS OF ONE- 'IIIIRD TO ALBERT GARVER, OF OIISCO, INDIANA.

MOWER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 14, 1908.

Application filed September 14 1906. Serial No. 384.576.

T o all w71 om 'it may concern.'

Bc it known that we., WILLIAM W. HARE and HENRY H. HARE, citizens oi' the United States, residing at Noblesville, in the county of Hamilton and State of Indiana, have in- `vented new and useful Improvements in,

Mowers; and We do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to machines Whereby grass and similar vegetation'may be cue from thc ground, and it has reference m'ort particularly to lawn mowers, the object` of the invention being to im rove the cutting apparatus of machines of t 's character, to the end that mowers may be produced at reasonable cost that will prove efficient, durable and economical in use.

With the above-mentioned. and minor objects in view, the invention consists in a mower having novel forms of cutters; and it consists further in the novel parts and combinations and arrangements of parts, as Vhereinafter particularlyT described and claimed.

Referring to the drawings, Figure lis a front elevation of a lawn mower ha ving the improvements embodied in the construction thereof; Fig. 2, a top plan thereof; Fig. 3, al vertical sectional view centrally of the cutting app aratus. the operating handle being broken away and the drive-Wheel being omitted;,

Fig. 4, a vertical sectional view of the main frame of the maclnne; Fig. 5, a fragmentary side view of the operating handle; Fig. 6, a

fraginentar)T verticalI sectional view taken near one,of the drive-wheels; Fig. 7, an inverted plan view of the improved finger-bar or stationary knife-bar; Fig. 8, a fragmentary vertical sectional view showing the manner of attaching the finger-bar ad'us'tably to the main frame Fig. 9, a top plan of the improved iinger-bar constructed with detachable cutters; Fig. 10, an inverted plan view of the sickle-holder and sickles or knives thereon; Fig. 1 1, a sectional view on the line A--A, and Fig. 12, a sectional view on the line B.-B, in Fig. 9.

Similar reference characters in the several figures of the drawings designate corresponding parts or features of construction.

In the drawings C and C designate the drive-Wheels which are employed to carry the mechanism, the Wheels beinglnountcd on axles a a'nd a.l that are attached to disks D and D which form parts of the frame of the machine. The wheels have internal gearteeth b for driving the cutting mechanism. The main frame comprises a beam E th'at eX.- tends horizontally between the disks forward of the 'Wheel-axis, the beam having a vertical shaft-bearing F attached to the middle part thereof, the bearing having a recess c in its upper end. The beam has a ,pair of endv members d and d attached thereto Which eX- tend vertically against the disks and are secured thereto. A drive-shaft Gr ismounted in the disk above the frame beam and has a -bevel gear wheel H attached thereto, a suitable pinion e being secured also to the drive shaft and in engagement with the gear-teeth b of a drive-Wheel. The frame comprises also a brace f that is attached to the disk rearward of the wheelaXis. A vertical counter-shaftlis mounted in the bearing F and has collarg secured thereto for supporting the counter-shaft and mechanism carried thereby, the collar having bearin in therecess c and covered by a dust-co lar h. A bevel gear Wheel J is secured to the counter-shaft I and in en agement with the wheel H to be driven there y. o

The finger-bar K is formed in plan as a segment of va-circle and has ears i and i at its ends for its support. The ear i has two bolt-holes 13 and 14 and also a set-screw hole 15 between the two bolt-holes, and the ear i is provided with similar holes 16, 17, and 18. The ears are attached to the bottoms of the members d and d of the frame by means of bolts j and j and a set-screw 7c for each attachment, whereby the finger-b ar may be adjusted accurately in vertical directions, the set-screws being adapted to bear against the members d and d to hold the ears firmly against the heads of the bolts j and j after they may have been adjusted. A suitable number Vof ngers as L, L', L2, project from the convex or forward side of the finger-bar With their tops flush with the top of the body thereof, one side of each finger being adapted to. serve as a stationary shear-blade, the cutting sides being designated by 19and the opcounter-shaft I., the contours of the fingers differing from either end of the fin er-bar to lthe other end thereof, although t e difference between any two adacent fingers may be sli ht, there bein a re atively large number o fingers, and t e are relatively short. The cutting sides 19 o all of the fingers lare curved convexly, and the opposite sides 20 of the fingers at and near one end of the finger-bar are curved conca'vely,v as are the finers L, so as to afford clearance for the grass.

n some cases the finger-bar is provided with removable plates on the top thereof, as

- shown in Figs. 9, 11 and 12 at' K', K2, K3,

the plates having cutting blades, as L3, L4, L5, attached thereto to correspond in shapes to the ,fin ers which they cover, the cutting tage with one or more mcvab e cutters swinging about a vertical shaft, the axis of the shaft being the center of the circle of which the body of the finger-bar is a segment, the center being at the intersection of radiating broken lines, by reference to which it will be seen that the fingers at and near one end of the finger-bar, as at L3, are longer than others and curved forwardly from a radiating line or towards the line of motion of the machine, so -that the grass may be gathered between the fingers and pushed by the movab e knives against the rear or cutting sides 19 of the fingers. Towards the middle portion of the finger-bar the fingers thereon (near L', Fig. 2, or L4, Fig. 9) extend morenearly along radiating lines and the lines of motion, while the remaining fingers towards and at the other end of the finger swept last by the movable cutting knives lie approximately in radiating lines, those at the terminal end extending nearly transverse to the lines of motion, as at L. By this design and arrangement of the cutting fingers, with a rotating cutter the grass will be cut first at the roots of the fingers and shearedv a little at a time, so that the grass can not be drawn in towards the finger-bar to choke the cutters.- All the fingers are tapering and vary in contour as above described progressively, the finger first to be swept by the movab e cutter avin the longercutting side so that approximatey the same quantityzof grass lmay be drawn against its rear cutting side as will be encountered and cut by the advance side of the shorter finger at the'termi-V nal end of the finger-bar.

A disk M, which is dished, has a flange l at its eri hery, and is secured to the countersha t I y nuts m, the flange having an under cutting edges n of the knives are straight and radial to the axis of the disk. The radiating broken lines in Fig. 9 illustrate relative positions of the cutting edges of the knives with respect to the cutting sides of the fingers of the finger-bar, from which it will be seen that shearing movements will result from the constructionand arrangement herein described. There are two handle members O and O secured rigidly to the disksD and D res ectively,the members having sectors p at t eir ends in which are curved slots g, and a handlepole P is connected by a pivot r to the members, {the pole having a bolt s extending .'through it and through the slots g and the ybolt having a thumb-nut t thereon,so that.

the angle of the ole may be changed to suit the operator of t e machine.

In order to keep the disk M and the cutting apparatus clear of grass when cuttin the flangel is provided on the top thereo' with an arm Q that projects upwardly and outwardly, and' rearwardly from its point of attachment to the flange when in motion.

In practical use the. machine is t0 be pushed ahead of the operator, and guided by the handle withoutrequiring a gulde-roller, and the gearing will cause the disk M to rotate about its axis at high velocity, so that the grass may be cut rather by many rapid sweeps of the movable knives across the fingers of the finger-bar than by sheer force at low speed. T e arm Q will sweep over the fingers,and as the grass would. be inclined ordinarily to pile against the disk D, the arm will prevent such piling and choking of the machine, and will throw the grass to the rear of the knife disk M.

x Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is- 1. A mower including a curved finger-bar.l

having a series of taperlng cutting fingers of which the fingers on one end portion of the finger-bar are longer than the remainin finers and curved away from the end o the ger-bar, the finger that is nearer said end being the longer ,and having the greater amount of curvature, the adjacent fingers successively having less length and amount o f curvature, and the remaining fingers of the series being substantially normal to the finger-bar, all the fingers having curved cutting sides. n

2. A mowerA including a frame beam having end members provided with screw-bolts,

a curved finger-bar havin supporting ears engaged by the' screW-boIts and provided with set-screws engaging the end members, a knife-disk mounted rotatively on the beam, and knives attached to the disk.

3. In a lawn mower, a curved Enger-bar having in each end portion thereof two boltholes and holding bolts in the bolt-holes," each end portion having also a set-screw therein between the two bolts, a frame to support the end portion of the finger-bar adapted to be engaged by the holdin bolts and theset-screws, a disk supporte 'rotatively by the frame, and cutting knives secured to the disk, substantially as shown and described.- p

4. In a lawn-mower, a curved finger-bar having in each one of its two end portions i nger-bar having different shapes in plan,

the different fingers on one end portion of the linger-bar differing slightly one from another successively from the end of said portion to the middle portion of the inger-bar, each lfinger being curved and diierlng in length from. the other lingers of said lend.

In testimony whereof, we aiiix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM W. HARE.

HENRY H. HARE.

Witnesses:

WALTER S. BROWN, FRANK H. SMITH. 

